“Tell me, Sadie.”
Why are you hesitating? He quit. He’s leaving. There was no reason to say no. Do it, Sadie. Do it. End your two-year drought. Scratch this itch and move on. She had no problem moving on. She didn’t need love and promises and flowers to have sex with a man. She pressed her hands lightly around his waist. His breath was coming as quickly as hers. His chest hitched with his low gasp at her touch. He wanted her as much as she wanted him. Do it. She slid her hands under his shirt. Up over his washboard abs and through the dusting of hair over his chest. She pressed her palm over his heart. Its frantic beat matched hers and she barely suppressed a moan. She stepped an inch closer.
“You know.”
His head lowered and his lips hovered a millimeter from hers. “Say it.”
“Kiss me.”
He slipped a hand around her waist and pulled her against him. His lips touched hers. For one perfect, long moment, he held the tender kiss. He pulled back and his breath tickled across her lips. She moved her hands to his hair and pulled his mouth back to hers. It was perfect. Perfect. Their bodies fit together so well. Her lips parted and her tongue met his in a slow, deliberate dance. Her hands left his hair to scrape along the stubble of his jaw, to slide along the edges of his shoulders. Better. Much better than her desperate flight into oblivion with their first kiss. His hand on her back dipped beneath her shirt and skimmed white-hot up the skin of her back. Desire boiled over and she moaned against his lips, pressing her belly against his and the hardness there.
He broke the kiss, turning his head and pressing his cheek against hers.
“Sadie.”
She let her fingers wander back down his chest and hooked them over the waistband of his jeans. His response vibrated through his body.
“Yes?”
“Maybe we should...”
She was done with maybe. Her hand slipped down the front of his jeans and found him. He groaned as her fingers closed around him and his mouth came back to hers.
“Protection?” she asked against his lips.
“Yes.”
“Good.”
* * *
WYATT TIGHTENED HIS arms around Sadie as she tried to slip from the bed. He buried his face in the curls at the nape of her neck, inhaling the scent of her shampoo, something spicy and exotic, and her skin. His heart had not slowed from its frantic pace. She’d been everything he imagined and more. He never wanted to let go. Never leave this bed.
“I’m not finished with you yet,” he whispered against her neck and his body stirred at her shiver. His lips curled into a smile as he remembered the shuddering waves of her orgasms. He’d like to cause a few more of those.
Her hands closed over his. “You only had the one condom.”
“A mistake of epic proportions.”
She turned in his arms to face him, her hand tracing lazily up and down his chest, driving him mad. He caught the roaming hand and brought it to his lips. “Do you have any idea how beautiful you are?”
He liked the pretty pink of her cheeks. Of course she knew that. So the blush, he surmised, was because she didn’t like it pointed out. Which only made the guilt dig a little bit more. He hadn’t meant to end up in her bed. One kiss was all he’d hoped to take with him when he walked out of her life. But then she’d touched him and had he’d lost all reason. Now he was going to leave a large chunk of his heart here with her.
“We have to get up at some point.”
“True. But now isn’t that point.”
It was getting late, and the sun was almost gone. Dusky shadows filled the room and obscured the dark blue of her eyes as he wished he could say what he was thinking. How much he wanted to stay with her. He wanted to make this into something. Wanted to see if they could make this last. If only it weren’t for the big lie sitting there between them. If only he hadn’t just made it much worse. He pulled her against him and kissed the top of her head.
“I’m going to miss you. Miss your stupid jokes in the morning meetings,” he said.
“My jokes aren’t stupid.” Her chest rose and fell with a sigh. “I’m going to miss you, too.”
He waited. There was no more. No asking or hinting if there was going to be more than this. Of course, some women wouldn’t say it out loud. No, they’d stay silent, waiting on the man to make the promises in the dark. He didn’t think Sadie was one of them.
“Tell me about this fabulous new job you got.”
That startled him. His mind scrambled. Truth is simpler than a lie, he decided. “Fraud investigation at an insurance company. I did similar work with the police department.”
She pushed back and propped up on an elbow. “Can I ask you something? It’s been bothering me.”
“What’s that?” He kept his tone light, but guilt nestled at the base of his stomach. This was bad. This was wrong. He was digging a deeper hole. He should have controlled himself. Should have walked away with his conscience clear. His heart ached. He didn’t want to walk away at all.
“Why didn’t you go back to the police department after your service?”
His body tensed and he closed his eyes as he concentrated on relaxing his muscles. He kept his eyes closed as her fingers found his hand and laced through his.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “If it’s something upsetting, I didn’t mean to...”
“No. It’s all right.”
He shifted around so he was propped up facing her, their fingers still laced. He could tell the story, and it wouldn’t be a lie. He’d spent six months with Maddie and Jules, paid for counseling on his own with the back pay he’d saved and healed his guilt. The scar still ached from time to time, but the wound was healed.
“I killed a man,” he said, testing out the words. “My unit provided base security. I was on duty and a car pulled up and a man jumped out. He ran up to the gate, screaming in Arabic, and I shot him. They found explosives taped to his body.”
Her fingers squeezed against his. “So you also saved lives.”
“That’s what they said. But you want to know something?”
Her hand slipped from his. She reached up and smoothed his hair back from his forehead. “Tell me,” she whispered.
“It didn’t matter. I was glad no one else died. But it didn’t help. I’d killed a person. And once I knew how horrible it was, I couldn’t go back to a job where I might have to do it again. I’d be a danger to my fellow officers if I hesitated when I needed to take action.”
“I’m sorry that happened to you.”
He closed his hand over hers as his throat closed up. No one had ever said that. Everyone who knew tried to convince him it did matter. Gave him the hero line. He didn’t feel like a hero. He felt as if he’d taken a life. Was it justified? Yes. Had it been for a greater good? Yes. But it didn’t change how it felt. She was the first to simply let him have his own feelings about what had happened. No. Don’t fall for her, man. Don’t.
“Now you have to tell me something about yourself. A secret.”
She laughed. And in the dark, it was the most beautiful sound he’d ever heard. It was too late. His heart had gone ahead and tumbled without his brain’s permission.
“Nothing to tell. I’m a pretty boring person.”
“Why does Josh call you Saff?”
And, wham! Up went the walls. He felt her entire body stiffen. She pushed away and he stopped her by pulling her into his arms.
“Running away again.”
“I’m not running away. Let go of me.”
He let go, giving her space. Instead of bolting off the bed, she wilted back against the pillow and stared into the darkness. “Where did you hear that?”
“That morning you were crying in the kitchen. Josh called you that.”
“Damn Josh. I told him to stop.”<
br />
Wyatt waited. And waited. The words were on his lips to tell her never mind when she let out a sigh. “You can tell no one.”
“No one,” he echoed.
She rolled up on an elbow and poked him in the chest. “I swear. No one.”
“It must be good, then.”
“Promise?”
He traced an X on his chest. “Cross my heart.”
“I was hoping for something more like, ‘may my dick fall off if I tell.’”
“Wow. You’re a hard-core secret keeper.”
“It’s supremely embarrassing. Okay. So you have to know up front my mother had me young. Got pregnant at fifteen and had me a little after her sixteenth birthday, so she was immature and I guess profoundly stupid. My real name isn’t Sadie. I sort of adopted it over the years.”
“What is it?”
“If you laugh, I’ll hurt you.”
Wyatt pulled the pillow from behind his head and put it over his groin. “I’m ready.”
Sadie laughed and traced her fingers down the center of his chest to the edge of the pillow. “Nah, you’re safe there.”
“You’re trying to distract me. Nice technique, but unsuccessful. Tell me.”
“Sapphire Diamond.”
He struggled not to grin at least. “It sounds like...”
“A stripper name.”
There was something in her tone. She was making fun of the name, but buried deep was an echo of pain. He remembered Noah telling them she’d grown up in foster care. Taken away from her teenage mother? He pulled her into his arms.
“I’m sorry that happened to you,” he said.
She snorted out a half laugh. “Me, too.”
He let his hands drift down her back to that amazingly gorgeous ass of hers. He slipped his thigh between hers and rolled her to her back. He began kissing his way along her throat.
“No condom,” she whispered.
“There are other ways.”
His lips found hers and he kissed her deeply, feeling himself growing hard at her touch. Yes, there were several ways he wanted to watch her lose control again. Then his cell phone rang from whatever dark spot he’d thrown his shirt. Jules. He sat up and scanned the floor. There. A glow from near the door. He rolled off the bed and scooped up the phone.
“Hey, Jules. Having fun?”
“Can I come home, Uncle Wyatt? I think I’m scared.”
He looked at Sadie who was sitting up and holding a sheet against her chest. Damn. “I’ll be there in a few minutes, baby girl.”
“She’s scared?” Sadie asked.
“Sorry. Yeah. She wants to come home.”
“Go.”
Sadie climbed from the bed, winding the sheet around her as he found and pulled on his scattered clothes. He kissed her at the door.
“I’m sorry.”
She went up on tiptoe to kiss his cheek. Her fingers traced down his neck, shoulder and arm and closed around his fingers for a quick squeeze. “I’m not.”
He wondered what she’d meant as he sped to pick up Jules. She wasn’t sorry they’d slept together or not sorry he was leaving so suddenly? What did he think he was doing? Starting a relationship here? As much as he wanted her, he couldn’t forget he’d been lying to her since the day they met. This is what happens when you think with your dick, dude.
Trouble was it wasn’t his dick thinking. It was his heart. She’d slipped right into it. Sapphire Diamond. Maybe her mother hadn’t been stupid in naming her child after two precious jewels. Because Sadie was a jewel, this he’d come to know. The outer shell of beauty only seemed cold and hard until you looked into its depths and saw the light buried deep inside.
He was falling in love with her and he had to walk away and hope she never learned the truth about him.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
SADIE AWOKE THE next morning and rolled to her side, staring at the pillows where Wyatt had rested his head. With the memories came flashes of heat running along her limbs and deeper. Dear God, she’d had slept with him. Why? Her body offered up an echo of the sensations he’d stirred as a reminder. She pulled the pillow over her face. She, who might usually eke out one climax, had gone off like a bottle rocket by the time his hand had slipped between her thighs. She recalled his husky chuckle and her cheeks burned. “Now we have to start all over again.” And start over again they had. Two. Two solid, screaming, lose-complete-control orgasms. It had been good. Better than good. Slow and easy and perfect. They’d moved together as if made for each other. No rushing, no fumbling.
With a frustrated groan, she threw the pillow off her face. She’d cuddled! Canoodled. Spooned. And told secrets in the dark. As though he was her lover. Even worse, she’d liked it. Hadn’t even known she was doing it. It just happened. She smiled as she remembered the warm feeling within his arms. A clatter of nails and heavy breathing that sent doggy breath washing over her pulled her thoughts away from the very talented Wyatt Anderson. She rolled out of bed. Jack ran happy circles around her, tripping her up at least twice on the way to the bathroom.
Twenty minutes later, she was showered, dressed and awaiting caffeination while Jack performed his duty in the backyard. The front door opened and her heart slammed up into her throat. Shit. Wyatt was going to be showing up soon. With the others. She didn’t want to see him. Didn’t want the guys to see her blushing or melting into a pile of mush. Didn’t know if she could look into his eyes again without blabbing out completely embarrassing pleas for more. Her stomach clenched in an agony of embarrassment. Not for the sex, but for what had come after.
Molly strolled into the kitchen. “Morning.”
Sadie whistled at Jack from the doorway and he actually obeyed immediately. “Hey. Good, you’re here. I’ve got a ton of paperwork to do and phone calls to make. When Josh gets here, have him supervise the morning rush.”
“You okay?”
“I’ll be in my office, and I don’t want to be disturbed. Between covering for DeShawn and being out for Abuelito’s funeral, I am so behind it isn’t even funny.”
“You hiding from someone?”
“No.”
“Why are you blushing?”
“I’m not. And I’m your boss. Stop with the fifty questions.”
“I bought those jelly beans you like so much. They’re in the pantry behind the beet chips so the guys won’t find them. In case you need extra today.”
Slamming her door was probably childish, but it helped ease her annoyance at the teasing. Jack whined and scratched at the closed door. She opened it enough for him to slip out and go play with the guys. She hadn’t been lying. There were stacks of paperwork piled deep on her desk. Inventory forms. The financial papers Lena sent over and now required Sadie to at least initial as proof she knew what was happening with her accounts. And government forms. Holy paper pushers, Batman—the government forms. Federal, state, county and city.
She got comfortable and began with the easiest. Lena’s monthly financial statements. Despite her aversion to numbers, Sadie had no problem understanding the columns of figures, the credits and debits. She looked at the bottom line. In the black. That was all she needed to know. After working through those, she rewarded herself with a little break and finished her coffee before it cooled. Remembering the kiss that had started it all last night destroyed her concentration, and her stomach fluttered. Parts farther south joined in on the flutters. She pushed back against the memories with a growing sense of unease.
She pulled the worst of the piles, the dreaded federal forms, closer and took the first off the stack. Nothing like a little governmentese to kill the sexy. But the nibble of malaise wouldn’t leave her alone. She gave up halfway through the stack. She wanted to go get another cup of coffee but could hear some of the guys milling around out there. She’
d rather go without coffee than run into Wyatt right now. She settled for a raid on her jelly-bean jar. She propped her feet on the opened bottom drawer and leaned back in the chair. A loud rumble of male laughter drifted through her partially open door and her heart raced as she recognized Wyatt’s laugh in the mix. Warmth seeped through her, and she became a bit short of breath.
She got up and quietly shut the door. Jack, who had returned, lifted his head from his bed. “Oh, hell, Jack.” She covered her face with her hands. You’re acting like a lovesick idiot. She leaned back against the door as her feeling of anxiety became a full-fledged beast, devouring her. You’re falling in love with him. She crossed her arms against her chest and held herself tight but it was too late. Her heart was free-falling into disaster. She did not do love. She did not do the happily-ever-after, two-point-five kids, two-car-garage thing. She didn’t know how.
She straightened and strode purposefully to her desk and picked up her pen. The residue of fear still tinged her nerves and it made her angry. Good. Anger was good. She knew exactly how to harness its energy. Right now she was going to use it to plow through this paperwork. Use it to burn the thoughts of Wyatt Anderson out of her mind. She wiped at her stinging eyes and focused on the paper before her. Jeez, what? What is this? IRS? OSHA? EPA? WTF?
The distraction worked. Well enough she was startled when Jack yipped and scratched at the closed office door. A quick glance at the clock showed almost two hours had passed. Who knew this bureaucratic stuff was the cure for...for what? Falling in love?
“You need a potty break, Jackie Boy? I need a coffee break.”
Jack pushed through the door the moment she opened it, ruining her effort to discreetly check if any of the teams were back for resupply runs. The office was silent except for the sounds of Molly clacking on her keyboard.
“I’m heading out to lunch in a minute,” Molly called out as Sadie went into the kitchen. “Want me to bring you something?”
“No. I’m good. Letting Jack out.”
She poured a stale cup of coffee, took a sip and dumped it in the sink. Jack was whining at the back door. “Okay, all right.”
Spying on the Boss Page 17